Things to remember this February:
I was subbing for Evan's teacher when he had his concert, so I got back stage access to the whole thing. This was when they all got down from the risers and did a Mexican Hat dance. Evan and Christopher are partners.
Avery did a "wax museum" project on Amelia Earhart.
Oh Avery. She is not good at projects. She barely squeaks by in completing the "written report" portion. She doesn't come close to doing all the other project add ons (like the print outs or pictures or artwork or sculptures etc etc), and I WILL NOT do projects for my children.
This is confusing because in this picture, you see a completed tri fold behind her. But all that is her friend Vienna's work. Avery didn't produce anything like that. She just stood by Vienna's work since Vinenna didn't have a costume.
At zero hour we scrounged up this costume.
Zero. Hour.
Jim was out of town, so I was solo in the last ditch effort situation.
I remember this night we went from this activity, then immediately to Lynden for Evan's last basketball game, then to an end of season celebration at Edaleen ice cream. The roads were dark and rainy.
February, man. It's just a hard month. I am waving the white flag. You win, winter! I give up.
No...it's not that dramatic, but enough is enough.
Did you know Daylight Saving is in 2 weeks?! So close.
Avery got a 4th place ribbon for that costume.
(Everyone got a ribbon for something...and she had nothing else to show for this project...so it kind of made me laugh.)
The next project she has to do is a SCIENCE PROJECT, so I am making her fill out a task completion checklist/deadline calendar thing. Maybe we will even buy the trip-fold cardboard projecty thingy.
Moving on.
Andrew is usually the table setter. Once in a while he writes all our names on our napkins.
Do you have unspoken assigned seating at your dinner table? We do. There is Larsen meltdown gamma 9 if someone dares to sit at a different spot.
Jim made a cake for the fun of it. He's a good cake maker.
This was a few days before Evan's birthday, so our cake quota has been met for the month.
This was about a week before the real SNOWPOCALYPSE happened. We had the lamest snow day for this icey skiff. They got all bundled up to go crunch around in the crust.
Andrew is Lloyd, ok?
Don't you forget it.
We went on a walk with Neighbor Jess and all the water places were frozen over.
It's so fun to crack the ice.
We took the Young Women on a winter camp out in cabins.
There's a lot to talk about in this outing, but nothing that would interest you blog readers.
Just stuff like - we taught the girls different ways to cook over a fire and Bishop Meaker was a snob about it because the Meakers think they invented food and cooking. He really thinks we should teach the girls to cook over a camp stove. blah blah blah. eye roll.
Ha, see? boring, dumb stuff.
He really is a great bishop, but there was a lot of mansplaining about how to cook food while camping and that drove us women a bit crazy.
One of my leaders, Kari, is a retired Marine, and another leader, Karla, is an ex firefighter. So I don't know. I just feel like we know what we are doing.
My Laurels are the coolest girls ever.
They taught the rest of the girls knot tying and whittling.
Meanwhile, back at home, Jim took the kids to Chuck E Cheese while I was away.
Look how pretty Avery is in this picture. A rose among thorns.
Speaking of roses,
one night we ate dinner at the Blacks, and Bailey made a cake for us. Avery helped decorate. They made fondant and fondant roses.
This is us meeting a guy from Craigslist at Bobs Burger to sell him our beloved car.
Bye bye Honda Pilot, our first family car.
Remember I was pregnant with Evan when we got her? It was pretty much a free car:
We bought her for sooo cheap from a guy who was moving out of the country. I think we paid $12,000.
Then we sold her for $4,000.
So, 8,000 dollars for a car that never needed any attention, and lasted us 9 years and two moves (once to Austin Texas and once to Bellingham).
They were giving away cars for free when we got it. Practically.
I love that car.
I love our new car too, but we are still getting to know each other.
(It's a Mazda CX9)
Lastly:
You know how I'm usually into puzzles this time of year? Well this winter I have been putting legos together. It is so fun!
I did the police station and Hospital and all the vehicles.
Every spare minute I have, you can hear me sifting through the lego bucket looking for a piece. When I find what I need, I usually announce: "boom! shakalaka!
